It is our pleasure to share with you this special issue, providing a snapshot of the current evolution of coding for data management and delivery in networks. Using coding to provide flexibility and efficiency in data management, rather than merely as tool to combat locally bit rot or transmission impediments, has become an increasingly rich and active domain of investigation. It weaves themes of protocol design, resource allocation, quality of experience management and code construction. These aspects arise in the papers of this issue, each of which individually represents one facet of the current state of the art, and collectively we hope constitute a well-cut gem.
